The Meg
| screenplay = | based on = | starring = | music = Harry Gregson-Williams | cinematography = Tom Stern | editing = Steven Kemper | studio = | distributor = Warner Bros. Pictures | released = | runtime = 113 minutes | country = | language = English, Mandarin | budget = $130 million | gross = $530.2 million }} 'The Meg' is a 2018 action sci-fi thriller movie directed by Jon Turteltaub with a screenplay by Dean Georgaris, Jon Hoeber, and Erich Hoeber, loosely based on the 1997 book ''Meg: A Novel of Deep Terror by Steve Alten. The film stars Jason Statham, Li Bingbing, Rainn Wilson, Ruby Rose, Winston Chao, and Cliff Curtis. The film follows a group of scientists who encounter a megalodon shark while on a rescue mission at the floor of the Pacific Ocean. The Walt Disney Studios originally purchased the film rights to the book in the 1990s, but after several years in development hell, the rights landed at Warner Bros. Pictures. The movie was eventually greenlit in 2015. Turteltaub and much of the cast joined by September 2016, and filming began the following month in New Zealand and ended in Sanya, China, on January 2017. A Chinese-American co-production, The Meg was released in both countries on August 10, 2018, in RealD 3D. It was a box office success and grossed over $530 million worldwide and received mixed reviews from critics, with some describing it as an entertaining movie and others calling it "neither good enough nor bad enough" to be fun. A sequel is in development. Plot Rescue diver Jonas Taylor is attempting to save the crew of a damaged nuclear submarine when he sees the hull of the sub being rammed by a giant creature. Two of his crew are trapped in the damaged sub; Taylor is forced to flee, realizing that attempting rescue would result in the death of everyone on the deep-submergence rescue vehicle. Moments later, the nuclear sub explodes. Taylor's account of the story is dismissed by fellow survivor Dr. Heller, who believes that Taylor turned coward due to pressure-induced psychosis. Five years later, billionaire Jack Morris meets Dr. Minway Zhang at a $1.3 billion underwater research facility called Mana One, which Morris has financed. Zhang and his daughter, Suyin, an oceanographer, supervise a mission to explore what could be an even deeper section of the Mariana Trench, concealed by a thermocline of hydrogen sulfide. The mission submersible is piloted by Lori, Taylor’s ex-wife, accompanied by scientists Toshi and "The Wall". Their theory proves true as they discover an abundance of never-seen flora and fauna below the thermocline. A large creature collides with the submersible and causes it to lose contact with Mana One. An old friend of Taylor's, Mana One operations manager James "Mac" Mackreides, suggests sending Taylor down to attempt a rescue. Despite Heller's objections, Zhang and Mac venture to Thailand to recruit Taylor. Suyin attempts the rescue in their absence but is attacked by a giant squid. Before the squid can crush her submersible, it is killed by a gigantic long, shark. Taylor, having agreed to help, reaches Mana One and saves Lori and The Wall, but Toshi realizes he needs to sacrifice himself if he wants his friends to live. When the shark returns, he shuts the hatch to the bigger sub, allowing the others to escape while he diverts the creature's attention. Back at Mana One, the crew discovers that the giant shark is a megalodon, the largest shark ever discovered and thought to be extinct for two million years. While discussing how to deal with it, Suyin's daughter Meiying witnesses the shark outside the observation ring, as it bisects a humpback whale in one bite. The crew realizes that it followed them through a temporary break they caused in the thermocline, allowing it to escape. The team resolves to go out and first track the meg and then kill it with poison, with Suyin in a shark-proof tank. However, the mission goes awry when after the shark is injected, the meg is large enough to swallow the cage and in doing so, cracks Suyin's mask, making her lose oxygen. Taylor then gets her out as she blacks out only to have the meg return. However, it gets snagged on the wire connecting the cage to the ship, stalling it long enough to kill it. In their moment of triumph, a second much larger megalodon emerges, killing The Wall, devouring the dead megalodon and fatally wounding Zhang. Heller sacrifices himself to save Jaxx. Morris enlists a mercenary team to depth-charge the shark, but Morris falls overboard in the failed attempt (a whale was killed) and he is killed. Receiving no assistance from surrounding governments, Taylor and the remaining Mana One crew resolve to track and kill the shark on their own. The megalodon is en route to a crowded beach on Sanya Bay in China. It kills several beachgoers before the Mana One crew projects audio of a whale call to divert the shark's attention toward them. Taylor then chooses to sacrifice himself to kill the Megalodon after Suyin is put out of action to save the others. Taylor manages to cut the megalodon's abdomen with his sub, as well as stab it in the eye with poison. Other sharks, attracted by the megalodon's blood, approach and devour the immobilized megalodon. One of the sharks starts swimming towards Taylor. Before it can eat him, Suyin hits it with her sub. Taylor rejoins Suyin, Mac, Jaxx, and DJ, and he and Suyin consider taking a vacation together. Cast * Jason Statham as Jonas Taylor * Li Bingbing as Suyin * Rainn Wilson as Morris * Winston Chao as Dr. Minway Zhang * Ruby Rose as Jaxx * Jessica McNamee as Lori * Ólafur Darri Ólafsson as The Wall * Robert Taylor as Heller * Sophia Cai as Meiying * Masi Oka as Toshi * Cliff Curtis as Mac * Page Kennedy as DJ Production Development The rights to the novel were initially acquired by Disney's Hollywood Pictures in 1996. Around that time, Tom Wheeler was hired to adapt the book into a screenplay, but, having decided that his script wasn't good enough, the studio hired Jeffrey Boam to write a new draft. Boam's script was later rejected for the same reason. By 1999 the project had stalled and the rights reverted to Steve Alten, the book's author. In 2005, reports surfaced that the project was being developed by New Line Cinema, with an estimated budget of $75 million, and a slated release of summer 2006. Names attached to the production included Jan de Bont as director, Guillermo Del Toro as producer and Shane Salerno as screenwriter. However, New Line later cancelled the project due to budgetary concerns. The rights reverted to Alten again, but the film remained in development hell. In 2015, it was announced that the film was now moving forward at Warner Bros., with a new script written by Dean Georgaris. By June of that year, Eli Roth was reported to be in talks to direct, but, due to creative differences, Roth was replaced by Jon Turteltaub in early 2016. Jason Statham and much of the cast joined in August and September 2016. Filming Principal photography on the film began on October 13, 2016, in West Auckland, New Zealand. Filming ended on January 4, 2017, in Sanya City of Hainan, China. Visual effects Visual effects were done by Sony Imageworks, Image Engine and Scanline VFX. The visual effects team was challenged with not only designing a previously undiscovered prehistoric giant shark, but also designing the underwater environments and atmospherics, including realistic coral reefs, bubbles, and other sea life. Release Released by Gravity Pictures in China and by Warner Bros. Pictures in the United States, the film was originally scheduled to be released on March 2, 2018. Warner and Gravity then said that the film would be released during the 2018 Chinese New Year period in China, a week-long annual holiday that kicked off on February 16, 2018. The film was later pushed back from its original release date of March 2, 2018 to August 10, 2018, in 3D and IMAX. The first official trailer was released on April 9, 2018. The studio spent $140 million on global prints and advertisement for the film. Home media The Meg was released for digital download on October 30, 2018, and on Ultra HD Blu-ray, Blu-ray and DVD on November 13. Reception Box office The Meg grossed $145.4 million in the United States and Canada, as well as $384.8 million in other territories, for a total worldwide gross of $530.2 million, against a production budget between $130 million. In the United States and Canada, The Meg was released alongside Slender Man and BlacKkKlansman; it was originally projected to gross $20–22 million from 4,118 theaters in its opening weekend. The film made $4 million from Thursday night previews, leading analysts to predict it would outperform its low-$20 million projections. After making $16.5 million on its first day, weekend estimates were raised to $40 million. It went on to debut to $45.4 million, topping the box office and marking the best solo opening of Statham's career, as well as Turteltaub. It made $21.5 million in its second weekend and $13 million in its third, finishing second behind Crazy Rich Asians both times. In other territories, the film debuted to $101.5 million from 96 countries, for a worldwide opening of $146.9 million. In China, a co-producer of the film, it grossed $50.3 million from 12,650 screens, ranked 3 in the opening weekend. Other top openings were Mexico ($6.2 million), Russia ($5 million), the United Kingdom ($4.4 million), Spain ($2.4 million) and the Philippines ($2 million). Critical response On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 46% based on 288 reviews and an average rating of 5.3/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "The Meg sets audiences up for a good old-fashioned B-movie creature feature, but lacks the genre thrills -- or the cheesy bite -- to make it worth diving in." On Metacritic, the film has a score of 46 out of 100 based on 46 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale. Owen Gleiberman of Variety gave the film a mixed review, calling it "neither good enough -- nor bad enough," and writing, "The Meg, a rote sci-fi horror adventure film that features a shark the size of a blue whale, comes on like it wants to be the mother of all deep-sea attack movies. But it's really just the mother of all generically pandering, totally unsurprising Jaws ripoffs." Scott Mendelson of Forbes was impressed by the film's special effects and called it "a polished B movie that delivers the goods," while IGN's William Bibbiani praised the performances of the cast, particularly Statham. Writing for The Hollywood Reporter, Simon Abrams said the film was "refreshingly unpretentious" and "a breath of fresh air" compared to the Sharknado series. Accolades Sequel In April 2018, Jason Statham said a Meg sequel would happen if the film did well with the public, saying "I think it's like anything in this day and age — if it makes money, there's obviously an appetite to make more money. And if it doesn't do well, they'll soon sweep it under the carpet. But that's the way Hollywood works." That August, Steve Alten said "My feeling has always been that this is a billion dollar franchise if it was done right. But to be done right you had to get the shark right, get the cast right, get the tone right. And Warner Bros. have nailed it completely. The producers have nailed it." In October 2018, executive producer Catherine Xujun Ying announced a sequel was in the early stages of development. In March 2019, it was announced that a script for the film was in the works. See also * Deep Blue Sea * Jaws * List of natural horror films * Mega Shark * Monster movie * Shark Night References External links * * * * category:Meg series Category:2018 horror films Category:2010s action thriller films Category:2010s monster movies Category:2010s science fiction action films Category:2018 3D films Category:American films Category:American action thriller films Category:American monster movies Category:American science fiction action films Category:American action horror films Category:English-language films Category:Films about sharks Category:Films based on American thriller novels Category:Films based on science fiction novels Category:Films directed by Jon Turteltaub Category:Films produced by Gerald R. 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